Checking Out the “Happy-Haps!” (3/31)

…as in the happy happenings that are going on in the movie blogosphere! This is the day of link-love for several movie bloggers and sites that have written articles/reviews that I have not been able to bring to your immediate attention! Today is your day to catch up on many other stories and goings on that just might make you smile…hence the name “The Happy-Haps!”

(keep in mind that every word highlighted below in gold is a clickable link!)

Happy-Hap #1- Jaina at Time Well Spent takes a look at one of my favorite movies ever while on her quest to watch and review 100 movies this year. Her quest took her on the Road to Perdition. Check out her thoughts and share your own.

Happy-Hap #2- Flixchatter shares a guest post by contributor and friend, Ted S. that serves as a letter to action directors and calls for them to cease and desist use of the vomit-inducing shaky-cam in their films. Do you think the dizzy scenes add to the quality of the film? Or do you agree that they should be eliminated from movies?

Share your thoughts. Read the rant and join the debate, which began with him tweeting to director Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol) about it. (That’s COOL!!)

Happy-Hap #3- Don’t miss Fogs’MovieReviews where Dan poses the question of the importance of source material when it comes to making movies. Read the thoughts and join the discussion of if you think original source material is important.

Was X-Men: First Class a bad movie for excluding members of the original team? Does the upcoming non-mutant, non-teenage, Ninja Turtle movie now seem like a “bust” to you? Was The Hunger Games a good book-to-movie adaptation? Did “ignoring” the source material ruin Percy Jackson?

How important is it to you that movies stay true to the source material as opposed to using their creative licenses for their film?

Happy-Hap #4- Nostra from My Film Views continues his weekly segment on Fridays that focuses on the many faces of a particular thespian. This past week, he takes a look at the many faces of one Christian Bale. How many of his movies can you name that don’t have Batman in them? His Oscar-winning performance in The Fighter, his crazy performance in American Psycho, his magical performance in The Prestige, his mind-altering show in Equilibrium…man, what a talented guy. Visit and share your favorite Bale performance!

Happy-Hap #5- Did you watch The Hunger Games yet? Can’t get enough? Want to watch it again? Well, you may not be visiting the theater again any time soon to do so, but, you can take a great tour of the Capitol over at Aidy Reviews. Be sure to check out Aidy’s post with dedicated links to interactive sites with behind the scenes tours of the Capitol. Pretty cool.

Happy-Hap#6- Russell over at 1:37 exactly shares a pretty sweet viral news video promoting The Amazing Spider-Man. In it, we see NYPD Captain Stacy talking about the vigilante fugitive known as Spider-Man in a public plea to have the general public help detain him. I am absolutely loving all of the promo stuff for this film and cannot wait for the movie to release on July 3rd.

Happy-Hap#7- Impassioned Cinema‘s editor/author, Max, has joined with Claire over at Cinematic Delights to create a fun regular segment entitled Trilogy Thursday. It is on Thursdays that they discuss and share their thoughts on a particular film trilogy and compare each installment. The latest of this segment featured the American Pie trilogy. With the 4th film releasing here soon, this post is a fun refresher and reminds us all just why we love to watch them. Which is your favorite of the three?

Happy-Hap #8- And, in case you missed The Raid: Redemption which released on the same weekend as The Hunger Games, be sure to not miss my friend Tajuana Greene’s review over at TajGreeneMoviesInReview! The Raid: Redemption only released in 14 theaters and she was able to check it out in one of them. I, for one, can’t wait to check out this action packed film. Below is the link, followed by the pretty sweet trailer.

Thanks for the shout-out Terrance! I did not see ‘The Hunger Games’ yet, I really don’t plan to. I am willing to let it trickle down to the Netflix or pray for a review copy :) This has been a busy week for movie’dom! I am in my ‘Game of Thrones’ phase now. So much to see, so little time. I mentioned you in my 7×7 link post as well; including a source link to you as well! You know, meeting you guys has made my online reading completely enjoyable. Thank you for this.

Thanks for the shout out T! Loved Dan’s discussion on the importance of source material. Seems like these days there isn’t a film out there that’s not originated from a book, short story, comic or some such.